Process for increasing the production of oil-wells.



I. L. DUNN. PROCESS POR INCREASING THB PRODUCTION 0F OIL WELLS.

APPLICATION IILED DBO. 12, 1913.

Patented June 9, 1914.

UNITED STATES...

OFFICE.

*IRWIN LpUNN, or'iranrnrraforio; AssIeNoRao rErRoLEUM PATENTS COMPANY,

i l orlomcaeo; ILrirNors-a coRroRATIoNior MAINE.

t PROCESSFR'INCRE'SINGTHEPRODUCTION OF OIL-WELLS.

specification of Letters Patent;` patented ,june 9, 1914.

` '{Appliatiaralte recenter 12; 1913. sentira 806,269.

il'oall wlw/rtitam/uy wacom.' t 11 Be it known that `l, lnwlN ILVDUNN, a cit1- zen ol" the Unitcilbtates` residing at Marietta. in the county fol'z \V1ashington and 'Stato `5 ol" Ohio, have inventedr certain .new and usct'ul lmprovements in Ilfrocossea;for .Int creasing the Production f tof; Oil-Wel is, of i which thc following isa specilication.` t lt is `ujellakuown that petroleum is 1ordifnar-ily `found at considerable; depth in strata `of porous stone or sand which gis overlaid kby rimpervious strata, The oil y bearing ystratum maybe otigreatenor less extent but it is inclosed at itssidesI oriedges by impervions i 'alls so that it is, lin effet-t, yin a hermeti-` cally sealed chamberor domet'which fills un' substantiallylills,yy ,Ordinar11y,o1l1s not fthe only t `fluid occupying .the pervious rock or sand but .it is Iusually ori always accoms` 201` pained by y gas,I and noti infrequent] y` M by 251,;-`,e1:s ofthe i stratuirn the water, fthe, threey fluids yarranging themselves .as appears, from observations vby oil; operators, according' to their respectiye specific gran/ities,` the waterv occupying the lower lay` il beingfsuPernaf-wf A g upon the waterl `and yceupyingl.` the middle n portiomi and theygras r occupyingtl1e,;uppcr portion` of 'the.` stratunnz, The, gas as i usually `rundericmnsdemble `PresS1111@ and when Such a bed; or stratumyfoteandaContainingroilis Srthe tiene.

40 dressup-Lila fu n pierced .by' a well5oilflowsHinterthe well and battiti iisdrivento tbyutheipressurepfuthe ehindaitta e-gasfe apes `wtlrgtlre oil, j ihoweuer and t tira itherpressure' i and tmlilslno y ghadi tto iterpedeingthe i ,well which tem.; .iinciyeases ritsiiroductionf; Finally tithe; 11 umust A en pumped byaganaordl-i ,na 'ylstmetiixanical )unlplftca 4filllitlierudraw 'o tf 2- oiilau iliujnnmyi cases even this resource;` taitllal .f Mirthe u'eHsben ahah#` doned, even though, as has been; shown; the

exhausted natugraihgasaiu fthe-,rock Aabove the ;A oil `compressed` :air i h1' L"ottimerfi-aintiticallytysup plied pressure' medium. filth-i i lievngi-thei ipressuretatr tthel' "17' 'fw it: ui ill Mi' i r cease1 anch resort' rockustill l cuiitainsalargei uianttiesx 0f Oil l ariousab etliodstlharet beenrproposedi `:to i rnclreaseflvior t,renew;itheihpreduotiveness of t l wells. whose output; hasrzfallen-ylow" on cef-used, l

among others that of substitilting-fonfthe pumping operation or by introducingthe `pressure at.. a well or bore more or less remote trom the well or wells to be pumped `and continuously applying the pressure.

lncither case the compressed air or other gas is` forced in for a considerable period oftime. which may be weeks or months so that ultimately the` top of the chamber inclosing the "porousrock or sand contains aycushion oi compressed gas actingupon the oil in the 1recitbeneath `it. When `the air or gas is introduced into one of a number of wells it, `of course, spreads in all directions through- Vout the porous rock, mainly, however, in the dryrock above `theoil, `if "any such exist, and tenldsto anddoes flow through the rock tolithe neighboring wells driving and carrying with. itlsthepetroleum` which has been `held by capillaryactionlwin the rock. In many cases very satisfactory results have been obtained byvthis fprocess. In other cases, however,theiresults have not been quite so satisfactory and it is for the pur- .poseiot improving; the ,results in such cases `that i myc presentplinvention was devised,

though" it-ls also `of advantage where rea-` sonably satisfactory oil. production has been attained .bythe process just described. The freason fortuthe greatiisuccess of the process thus lfar `describechin some instances and `itspartial lfailure i in others, owing to the conditions ofyoperation can perhaps never ,bei determined' with certainty, but the phe- "nomenawhich I have observed seem to indi cate that thepressure medium, in those cases .where inferioryresults have been obtained, finds a comparatively easy path from the xvelhatpwhich Jitis introduced to the wells fromnvliicllftheoil is to be pumped either over thmoiliinthe upper dry levels of the rook orathrough-l solne other course. so that it loes not penetranl thtl layers containing `ihe'ioil `at allor to a satisfactory degree` or ln-odore;sufficient pressure thereon to drive the ioilouh ofythe rock. Acting upon this theoryz ot" theiiinpert'ect action of such wells, insteadgcof.permitting the gas or air to go street" `"atti-the outlet wells or wells being pumped;illinaintain a counterpressure upon lthelatterwhich, however, is materially less ithanlthepressure at which the gas is forced iin and therefore not, sufficient to prevent tlow `ofwairthrough the rock. It is sufiicient, rhoweyelt, to maintain a material pressure not only at the outlet well but through the said that my process may be practised where there are but two bores,` or even, in that 4form thereof in which the pressure is introduced at the saine well from which the oil is withdrawn with a single well. Ordinarily, however, the properties to whichmy process is applied will comprise a number of wells, in which eventyI ordinarily choose one of themnear the center of the group for the' introduction of ythe airreserving the others for pumping outl the oil. also if for any reason I do not pump all the wells, those not used and any other avenues for the escape `of air-should be plugged in some suitable manner to prevent the escape of air therethrough.

In the accompanying drawing, I `have illustrated diagramma-tically mysystem as applied to two oil wells, though it will -be understood that it is not limited thereto but that any number of outlet wells may be employed in connection with a single inlet well, as stated above, and that the nature of the lapparatus employed 'for carryingl out my process and the process itself may vary in many respects. The specific disclosure, therefore, is for the purpose of exempliicav tion only and the invention is'delined in the following claims in which I have endeavored to distinguish it from the prior art, so farl as known to me without, however, relinquishing or abandoning any part or feature thereof.l Y V The accompanying *drawing represents a section through a body of land containing two vells equipped yfor the practice of my process, the plane of section beingv central ofthe two wells.

As a preliminary to practising my process` one yof the wells A is closed or capped at the top or at some convenient point and an air supply pipe B extends through the sealy and to an air compressor C capable of supplying air in considerable 'quantities preferably at a pressure in excess of forty pounds to the squarey inch. Preferablythe well is cased toy such a point that escape of the airaround the same is entirely prevented and it isl al1 forced into the rock or sand. The outlet wells, aected by the introduction of the air, and represented in the drawingu at D, are located at different distances from the inlet Obviously well, depending largely o n the character and perviousness of the stratum in which the oil is found. Thus where it is` very pervious the wells may be located at greater distances ythan are possible where the rock is-very close and butk slightly pervious. 'IheV outlet well D-is also preferablycased where it is necessary to prevent theescape of gas or air and closed as at E about the pump tube H which latter may be of any suitable character. The pump tube H, however, is closed at the top and packed about the pump rod VJ and from'a suitable point, preferably near the top of the casing,` a pipe K leadsl to a pressure regulating device lshown conventionally at L inthe drawing. This pressure y regulatingadevicemay be of any suitable-or aov approved character, being shown as an ordi.-

nary weighted valve, and is ordinarily set to maintain a pressure of about ten pounds. As long as that pressure is exceeded in the well the gas or air is permitted to escape so` I ,that there is a continuouslow from the inlet well to the outlet well.- There is thus main- 1 tained along with the ilow of thefair or` gas a continuous pressure of more 'than ten` pounds in excess of atmospheric pressure which seems to cause the air to penetrate the koil rock and to drive-the air therefrom and into they outlet wells from whichy it `may be pumped.

Instead of permitting the air to directly gasolene and lighter hydro-carbons, it may be used as fuel or passed'through condensers by which the gasolene and other'valuable constituents may befsqueezed out ofrit.

v The foregoing description of the operation of my .improved process is based upon and includes the theory of operation thereof which seems `most probable to me, but

whether or not the theory be correct I 'have' found that by applying'back pressure as described inthe operation of the process, most satisfactory results i, have been obtained where without Vsuch' back pressurethe increase of' production'due to the process has beenrelatively -small in some instances.

` I claim:

1. A processy for increasing the produc tion of oil wells consisting in forcing gas `into the oil laden pores and interstices of Y 'escape' from the'outlet wells, as'- described above, being saturated or heavily laden with under pressure into the oi 1 bearing rock,

permittingit to flowfrom'the rock under a yback pressure and gathering the oil released thereby.

2. A process for increasing the productivey lness of a group 0f oil wells consisting in wells and other outlets from the oil rock, forcing compressed gas in at one of the wells and permitting it to escape at one or more of the other Wells under back pressure.

4. A process for increasing the productive` ness of oil wells consisting in sealing the wells and other outlets from the oil rock, forcing compressed -gas in at one of the wells at a pressure of about forty pounds and permitting it to escape at one or more of the other wells under a regulated back pressure.

5.. A process for increasing the productiveness of oil wells consisting in sealing the 15iwel1s and other outlets from the oil rock,

forcing compressed gas in at one of the wells at a pressure of about ten pounds and permittin it t-o escape at one or more of the other wel s under a regulated back pressure.

6. A system for the production of oil comprising a pair of bores or wells sealed against egress of air, o. compressor connected to one of the wells and an oil pump and prcssure regulator connected to the other we 1.

T. J. SUMMERs, R. E. Rrrrnn. 

